Like bad Christmas cracker jokes and rows with relatives, train disruptions seem to be part and parcel of the festive season. Passengers travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh yesterday morning were left stranded after a signalling fault played havoc with the timetable. On what was for many the first day back at work after the YuletideContinue reading “We won’t solve rail chaos by handing SNP a new train set”
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Yes, First Minister, there is a Santa Claus
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes many forms but none so cruel as Ruth Davidson. Nicola Sturgeon had one final First Minister’s Questions of 2017, an unkind year in which the SNP leader ask Father Christmas for Indyref2 but got a lump of coal in her stocking and Alex Salmond on Russia Today. Any hopeContinue reading “Yes, First Minister, there is a Santa Claus”
SNP could become hooked on tax-raising drug
Raising income tax ‘would not be radical, it would be reckless. It would not be daring, it would be daft.’ Evidence showed ‘it could actually reduce the amount of money we have to invest in our National Health Service and our public services’. Given the need for ‘stable and predictable revenues’, tax hikes were ‘aContinue reading “SNP could become hooked on tax-raising drug”
Bingo! As Mackay called the numbers, Sturgeon rifled through purses in the cloakroom
Like a first-time bingo caller in a provincial community centre, Derek Mackay trilled with an uneasy mix of excitement and nerves. The prize table looked meagre indeed but the Finance Secretary tried his best to gin everyone up. Economic growth of 0.7%! A new method for calculating inflationary poundage uplift! And who could resist theContinue reading “Bingo! As Mackay called the numbers, Sturgeon rifled through purses in the cloakroom”
Raising taxes would only reward ten years of SNP failure
Prepare to learn this week that you are callous and unfeeling. It will be implied, hinted, and even openly charged that you are selfish and mean-spirited; that you care more about your Tuscan villa and the winter home in Gstaad than those scraping by on the breadline. Finance Secretary Derek Mackay delivers his draft budgetContinue reading “Raising taxes would only reward ten years of SNP failure”
What a Twist! It’s Artful truth Dodger Nicola
All that was missing was the empty bowl and the raggedy mite mumbling, ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’ Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard forwent the conventional Q&A format of First Minister’s Questions in favour of an amateur dramatics production of Oliver Twist. Attempting to pin down Nicola Sturgeon on the future of local governmentContinue reading “What a Twist! It’s Artful truth Dodger Nicola”
Remembering Jerusalem
The Israelis, whom I love more than life itself, are doing it again. That thing they do when someone, anyone, even a total nishtgutnick like Donald Trump, comes along and tosses them a few warm words. Their little hearts leap to be told that, on balance, all things being equal, they have a right toContinue reading “Remembering Jerusalem”
Time to hit the brakes and admit it’s been a bumpy ride, Nicola
‘Stop talking down Scotland’ goes the perennial cry of the Scottish Nationalist, which roughly translates to ‘Stop pointing out unpalatable facts about Scottish Nationalism’. It’s not enough that the SNP governs every aspect of our lives, from how much tax we pay to where tobacconists can display their shameful contraband, they expect us to beContinue reading “Time to hit the brakes and admit it’s been a bumpy ride, Nicola”
Nicola Sturgeon’s credibility gap is impossible to bridge
Ratting on your colleagues is a daily hazard at Holyrood but it’s not every day you see a First Minister brief against herself. Nicola Sturgeon breezed into FMQs and outlined plans to shut a lane of the £1.35billion Queensferry Crossing for repairs. Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie asked when ministers learned the bridge would close.Continue reading “Nicola Sturgeon’s credibility gap is impossible to bridge”
Stephen Daisley 